Lionel Messi and Argentina crossed another hurdle to secure a spot in the World Cup 2022 final. They will be waiting for France, of course not discounting Morocco’s incredible defensive record and fighting mentality.
A vastly experienced Croatian team was all set to land another shocking result after defeating Brazil. But Lionel Messi’s red-hot form turned out to be a bit too much for the Croatian defense. Lionel Messi has caught up to Kylian Mbappe’s 5-goal tally with the penalty he scored last night.
Albiceleste’s main man has beaten Mbappe for the direct goal contribution stat with 5 goals and 3 assists. Tonight Morocco will fight to take another step toward their fairytale World Cup run. But France’s quality is hard to match, especially the striker partnership between Mbappe and Olivier Giroud.
Fans believe the 2022 World Cup is rigged after Lionel Messi’s semifinals match against Croatia
There were a lot of speculations surrounding this World Cup, since its announcement. Fans criticized FIFA’s decision to let Qatar host it and also the timing of the tournament. More than 6000 migrant workers were reported to have lost their lives during preparation.
Argentina’s win last night has made the question mark even more glaring. Lionel Messi yesterday stepped up to take his 4th penalty in the World Cup last night. He has converted 3 of them. The level of refereeing in this World Cup, even with the help of VAR has been controversial, to say the least.
Everyone was talking about referees during the World Cup quarterfinals 😳 pic.twitter.com/cEfEj1H4Y2
— B/R Football (@brfootball) December 11, 2022
The first doubtful situation took place in the Argentina-Poland round of 16 match. When the Polish keeper Szczesny stretched out to push away a ball out of the danger zone and left a palm on Messi’s face. The referee checked it on VAR’s recommendation and to everyone’s surprise, awarded the penalty to Argentina.
this is the most rigged World Cup in fucking history
— 🇲🇦 🇫🇷 (@v2muli) December 13, 2022
This has to be the most rigged world cup ever. Argentina has got 5 penalties. pic.twitter.com/SZm7oOvbvw
— Barcelona Fan (@Lionel_peak_) December 13, 2022
Im glad that people are seeing how rigged this is, they couldn’t accept the fact that Lionel “humble good boy” Messi would retire without a World Cup so they are making sure he wins it.
Most penalties in a single campaign in World Cup history.
Not a coincidence
— Leo🇮🇹- Fan (@Vettel_AMR) December 13, 2022
Ian Wright, Gary Neville and Roy Keane have all said it’s never ever a penalty too
blatant corruption there
— 🇲🇦 🇫🇷 (@v2muli) December 13, 2022
Qatar probably wants to be remembered as the tournament where Messi won his world cup.
They’ve bought everything else so far, so why not arrange their desired winner as well?
— Niek Buurma 🇪🇺 🇳🇱 (@NiekBuurmaH2O) December 13, 2022
2010, 2014, 2018, 2022 I’ve heard the same thing. pic.twitter.com/st8uFb7LLd
— noville💫 (@NovilleFc) December 13, 2022
Last night’s semifinal match posed the second doubtful moment favoring Argentina. A long ball from the Argentine midfield found a running Julian Alvarez. He went one on one with Dominic Livakovic and a clattered onto him. The referee awarded the penalty to Argentina. The replay clearly showed that Livakovic did nothing wrong and Julian Alvarez was the one who initiated the contact.
These two decisions along with many others led soccer fans to believe, this World Cup is rigged for Lionel Messi and Argentina. Only time will tell if there’s any truth behind the speculations, or if it’s just the usual reaction of social media.